Means for carrying out a process for burning bricks.



F. B. LAMBERT.

nuns FOR CARRYING out A PROCESS ron BURNING BmcKs.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20.1915. 1

1,230,493. Patented June 19, 1917.,

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F. B. LAMBERT.

MEANS FOR CARRYING OUT A PROCESS FOR BURNXNG BRICKS, APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20. I915- I 1,230,493. Patented June 19, 1917.

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MEANS FOR CARRYING OUT A PROCESS FOR BURNING BRICKS.

APPLICATWN FILED MAR. 20. I915.

1,23DA93. Patented June 19, 1917.

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FRANK B. LAMBERT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LAMBERT PROCESS COM- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR CARRYING OUT A PROCESS FOR BURNING BRICKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 19, 1917.

Original application filed March 5, 1912, Serial No. 681,720. Divided and this application filed March 20, 1915. Serial No. 15,909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK B. LAMBERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Means for Carrying Out a Process for Burning Bricks, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to means for carrying out a process for burning bricks. The present application is divisional of my copending application Serial Number 681,720, filed March 5th, 1912, and the present invention relates to the apparatus for carrying out the process described and claimed in said application.

The object of the present invention is to provide improved means for burning bricks. In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the present specification, I have illustrated one form of apparatus in which.

partly broken away, showing a kiln in readiness to be burned;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the burner nozzles;

Fig. at is a longitudinal section of the same;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section through one of the arches of the kiln;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken at right angles to Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of one of the blower or induction tubes;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the outer end thereof;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a portion of the blower or induction tube; and,

Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the same.

The kiln shown in the drawings is a socalled temporary scoved kiln. It is constructed under a shed roof 15, supported at rails 19, which constitute a crane track. The shed has extension roofs 20 at the sides and under these the side walls comprise removable panels 21 of wooden boards. A permanent steam pipe 22 with steam at about 100 to 150 pounds pressure is carried above the ground along one side of the shed. between the side posts 16 and 17, and a fuel oil pipe 23 with oil under pressure is buried in the ground directly beneath and parallel with the steam pipe 22.

The parts described above are permanent, except that the board panels 15 and 21 can be placed or removed as desired. W'ithin v other is being torn down and delivered as a finished product.

In building or setting one of these kilns a layer of previously-burned bricks 2a is laid flat on'the ground to receive the legs of the arches. Then the green bricks are set up, forming a kiln. These green bricks are handled by cranes which run on the tracks 19, or may be set by hand, as desired. The

bricks come from the drier on cars piled v eight brick widths high for the cranes, and the cranes pick up a carload at a time and place it in the proper position for building or setting the kiln.

The first installments of bricks 25 are spaced apart so as to leave transverse channels or spaces between them. Then men working with their hands draw the top layers of bricks over to form jets 27 and thus form the arches 26. formed the spaces behind the jets are filled in with extra bricks placed by hand and then additional green bricks 25 are set up in the kiln so that they stand on edgethree on three with narrow spaces between them. These bricks 25 may also be set either by hand or by mechanical means. On the sides of the kiln above the arches and on the ends of the kiln from the ground up there is placed a wall 28 of double coal bricks, the

After the arches are r thickness of this wall being equal to the length of a single brick. These double coal bricks are made by mixing anthracite coal dust or screenings with the clay in the proportion roughly of pounds to a thousand bricks. Outside of the double coal bricks a wall 29 0t previously-burned bricks is built up all around the sides and ends of the kiln. The thickness of this wall 29 is a brick length for the lower half, but only a brick width for the upper half. The bricks in this wall are laid together as closely as possible to exclude the passage of air therethrough. The outside face of this side and end wall '29 is then plastered over or daubed with clay or loam so as to close the cracks between the bricks. Then a layer of previously-burned bricks 30 is laid liatwise all over the top of the kiln, these bricks being laid closely together, but the top layer 30 is not daubed and the gases and vapors from the kiln can escape between them.

In completed form each kiln has the following dimensions: There are thirty arches in the kiln with about forty-two thousand bricks per arch. The width of the kiln at the bottom is titty-four brick lengths, and at the top is titty-one brick lengths. The height of the kiln is forty-eight brick widths exclusive of the bottom bricks 24 and the top layer 30.

\Vhen a crane is used the same places the bricks in loads each eight brick widths deep and, then loads are placed six deep in the height of the kiln. Each pillar or leg between the arches has a horizontal thickness ot four brick lengths, and each arch is two brick lengths in width, so that the consecutive arches are six brick lengths distant from center to center.

It is to be understood that these dimensions or proportions need not be adhered to,

peep hole (31 normally closed by a brickbat.

The side walls 0'] the completed kiln are braced by struts and bricks 33 against the side posts 17, and the end walls of the kiln are braced by struts between the ground and the vertical bars 34 that lie against the end walls of the kiln.

On top oi the kiln at regular intervals brickbats o1 piles of brickbats 3G arc placed and gage rods 37 are hung from the tie rods 18. the lower end of the gage rods 37 barely touching the brickbats 36. This is so that the settle can be observed during tiring oil the kiln.

A temporary steam pipe 38 branching trom the overhead steam main 22 is laid along the sides of the kiln in front of the dog houses 31 on each side of the kiln. This steam pipe 38 is paralleled by a temporary oil-supply pipe 39 connected to the buried oil main Adjacent each dog house each pipe 38 and 39 has valves, 40 and i5, respectively, controlling branch outlets. An oilinjector nozzle 4.4: (which herein T term a burner) is connected by the pipes -1 and l3 and elbow 42 forming an L to the steam outlet l0, and it is also connected by a piece of flexible tubing 47 and the end pipes to and 4-8 to the valve l5 connected to the oil main 39. Thus it will be seen that the injector nozzle it can be swung up and down about the pipe :tl as an axis, and with the pipe l3 as a radial arm. The nozzle l i. may also be swung about the pipe i3 as an axis to direct the same properly into the dog house. The injector nozzle ll shown in section in Fig. 4, has a central conical oil outlet i9, controlled by the needle valve 50, which is adjusted by the hand wheel 51. The steam outlet comprises an annular space between the tip 62 and the inner shell 63, which separates the steam and oil spaces.

For the purpose of blowing in steam and air in order to carry out the method described and claimed in the co-pending application above reterred to, I provide the pipes which, in the present drawings, are shown to consist of four sections successively decreasing in diameter, although it is to be M understood that the pipes 53 may be of the same diameter throughout. Each section has an opening just before the joint 5-:t with the next smaller section, and around each opening is a flaring, conical outletnozzle at The end of the last section has a specially formed conical outlet nozzle 57 in the shape of an elbow. The large end oi. the pipe carries a yoke 58 for supporting the burner it when the same is employed as an injector steam jet.

Inasmuch as the process of burning bricks is fully described and claimed in the co pending applicatimi from which this case is divisional, I do not deem .it necessary to describe the same specifically, but shall state the same in general terms, to show the manner of use of the apparatus thus tar described.

The kiln having been built up in the man-- ner described, oil flames are blown into each arch 26 at each end thereof, the oil being injected by tl annular steam jet issuing troni the nozzle 62. .Kt first only a moderate supply of oil and steam is injected and the tires burn rather close to the dog houses. As the bricks adjacent the ends ot the arches get dried out and hot. the. fire is forced, using more steam and oil. lVhen the tire is hot-- test the flames are driven away back into the has arches, so that the two flames coming in at the ends of each arch meet, or nearly meet, at the middle of the arch, and thus the whole arch is filled from end to end with oil flame. By the time all the bricks adjacent to the arches are beginning to be red hot, the operator begins to shut off the steam and oil supplies, tapering down the burning, and thereafter shutting off the fire completely. The fires in the end arches of the kiln are burned at a greater rate than through the intermediate arches, and an attempt is also made to burn the outer ends of the intermediate arches before the flames are driven completely through the arches, the purpose of this being to secure a substantially isothermal surface or zone extending horizontally across the body of the kiln just above the arches, but rising a little all around its edges, as indicated diagrammatically on Fig. 1 by means of the dotted line 59. This tends to maintain a slightly increased draft around the edges 'so that sufiicient oxygen will be supplied to the doublecoal bricks, which, by the burning of the coal therein, supply a local source of heat to offset the losses by radiation through the walls of the kiln. The time for shutting off the flames is indicated to the operator or attendant by a slight settle, which can be observed by means of the rods 37 and the brickbats 36 on top of the kiln. As soon as the rods and the brickbats, which serve as gage points, begin to separate, it is an indication that the kiln has begun to settle, caused by the shrinkage of the bricks. When the operators notice this settle they promptly shut off the fuel supply to the arch or arches directly beneath the settling point or points and swing the corresponding burner nozzles 44 up above the doghouses 31. Then they shove the tubes 53 into the arches at which the flames have been shut off, putting the small end 57 of each tube or pipe 53 in first and in such position that all the nozzles 5657 are directed upwardly; also so that the bracket 58 lies directly beneath the nozzle 44 and will support the same substantially coaxially with the tubes 53. After the nozzle 44 is swung down so that it rests on the yoke or cradle 58, the steam valve 40 alone is open. The steam blast going from the nozzle 44 axially into the pipe 53 has an ejector action and induces with it a large amount of air through the open end of the pipe 53 around the nozzle 44. This mixture of air and steam issuing from the pipe 53 through the fiaring nozzles 56 and 57 ascends through the brickwork 25 and 25 out through the top of the kiln. The force with'which the steam is blown is regulated by the operator in accordance with the settle. The more tendency the kiln shows in any place to settle, the harder the steam and air are blown in at the arches under that place. By

the cracks between the top bricksSO, the

this blowing action the heated zone is driven up through the kiln, and when the zone of incandescence reaches the top of the kiln, so that the red hot bricks can be seen through blowing is discontinued. Thereafter the dog houses 31 are knocked down and the ends of the arches opened wide so that the natural draft of the kiln will cool off the bricks therein. The burning and blowing apparatus is then removed and the kiln is ready to be torn down and the bricks delivered for consumption.

While I have shown and described a spe cific form of the apparatus employed in carrying out my process, it is to be understood that numerous changes, modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the, invention. It is obvious that the induction pipe 53 may be made of the same diameter throughout, and that the nozzles 56 and 57 are not absolutely essential, as holes cut in the top of the pipe 53 will serve the purpose as well, that is of directing the jets of. mixed steam and air upward into the brickwork above the arches. It is also evident that different arrangements of the burner and steam-blowing jet 44 with relation to the steam and oil pipes is possible, the essential idea being that the same shall be adjustable so that the nozzle 44 may be brought opposite the dog house, and also so that thefnozzle may be swung out of the way in order to introduce the induction pipe 53 for the blowing process. It is to be noted that I am not limited to the use of the specific burner nozzle illustrated, as any equivalent device will serve the purpose of atomizing theoil and alsoof furnishing the jet of steam for inducing air through the induction pipe 53. Different means may also be employed for connecting the burner nozzle with the induction pipe other than the yoke or cradle 58, my invention residing more in the broad combination of these elements and their coijperation to produce the desired results, rather than in the specific details of any particular piece of apparatus employed. p

What I claim as new and desire to secure 1 5 by Letters Patent of the United States is the following arches and lying on said flat floor, said pipes having discharge openings in their walls facing upwardly in said arches, the outer ends of said pipes being open, a steam supply pipe and branches therefrom terminating as nozzles at the open ends of said pipes.

53. In combination, a kiln of bricks having arches in the bottom and pipes extending in said arches, oil burner nozzles at the ends of the arches, steam and oil-supply pipes for said nozzles, and means to bring the nozzles in a line with said pipes in order to blow steam therefrom into the pipes.

4:. In combination, a. kiln of bricks having arches in the bottom thereof, oil and steamsupply pipes extending along said kiln, oil burners having steam-jet means for atomizing the oil, connected to said oil pipes and steam pipes, and valve connections for each burner to control the oil and steam supplied thereto, and induction tubes cooperating with said burner nozzles for blowing steam and air into said arches.

5. In combination, a kiln of bricks having arches therein, oil and steam-supply pipes adjacentthe sides of said kiln, an oil-burner nozzle adjacent each arch, said burner having a steam-jet arrangement'for atomizing the oil, valve connections between each burner and the steam and oil supply pipes, respectively, and an induction tube cooperating with said nozzle for injecting steam and air into said. arches.

6. In combination, a kiln having arches in the bottom thereof, permanent oil and steam supply pipes adjacent thereto, temporary oil and steam-supply pipes connected to said permanent pipes, lying adjacent to the sides of said kiln, an oil-burner nozzle having a steam jet for atomizing the oil, adjacent each arch, adjustable connections between each nozzle and the temporary supply pipes, and an induction pipe counectible to said nozzle for introducing air and steam into each of said arches.

7. In combination, a permanent shed having upright posts, permanent oil and steamsupply pipes in said shed, a kiln of bricks having arches in the bottom thereof placed in said shed, stringers secured to said posts above said kiln and having depending therefrom gage rods in contact with the top of the kiln, oil-burner nozzles for each arch, said nozzles having steamjets and valves for controlling the admission of oil and steam to said nozzles, and an induction pipe connectible to said nozzles for blowing air and steam into the arches of the kiln.

8. In combination a kiln of brick having arches set upon a substantially flat floor to form internal furnaces, steam mains and oil mains running along the kiln transverse to said arches, steam vaporizing oil burner nozzles, one for each furnace, branch pipes from said steam main and from said oil main serted into said furnaces, said nozzles and connections being readily movable to permit insertion and removal of said pipes, said nozzles and said induction pipes being adapted to be brought into line, and valve means for shutting off said steam and oil branch pipes.

9. In combination a kiln of brick having arches, an oil-supply pipe, a steam-supply pipe, a nozzle connected to said pipes and adapted to bring said nozzle in line with one of said arches, a rigid swinging pipe connecting said nozzle wit-h one of said pipes, and a flexible tube connecting the nozzle to the other of said pipes.

10. In combination a kiln of brick having arches forming internal furnaces, a steam supply main, an oil supply main, said mains lying transversely of said arches and having branches extending laterally for each arch, a burner nozzle for injecting steam and oil into said furnaces to fire said kilns, said branches comprising connections between said mains and said nozzle, one of each of said connections being adapted to permit the corresponding nozzle to be swung away from its arch or furnace, and to be rotated in two planes, to secure adjustment of the nozzle with respect to said arch, the other of said connections being flexible to permit of such adj ustment.

11. In combination a kiln of bricks having arches, a steam-supply pipe, an oil-supply pipe, a burner nozzle, an L-shaped connection between said nozzle and one of said pipes, said L-shaped connection allowing rotation of the nozzle about both of its limbs and adapted to bring said nozzle in line with one of said arches, and a flexible tube connecting the nozzle with the other of said pipes.

12. In combination a kiln of bricks having arches, a steam-supply pipe, an oil-supply pipe, a burner nozzle, an L-shaped pipe connection between one of said pipes and said nozzle, a flexible tube connected between the other of said pipes and the nozzle, and an induction pipe having means to connect the nozzle there-to said pipes being adapted to discharge into one of said arches.

13. In combination a kiln of bricks having arches, a burn-er nozzle having means to provide coaxial steam and oil jets adapted to discharge into one of said arches, valves for controlling the flow of steam and oil, an

induction pipe having a plurality of jets discharge into one of said arches, said pipe comprising a length of pipe having discharge openings on one side thereof only, a yoke to connect the same to a steam jet in such position that the openings in said pipe will always be turned upward in said arch.

15. In combination a kiln of bricks having arches and an induction pipe adapted to be inserted in one of said arches, said pipe comprising a length of metal pipe having openings arranged on one side thereof only, flanges around said openings to direct the escape of an elastic fluid from said pipe, a yoke connected to the open end of the pipe, said yoke being adapted to be connected to 15 a steam jet in such a manner that the flanges on said induction pipe Will point upward in said arch. In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscrib my name this 12th day of March, A. D. 1915. 20

FRANK B. LAMBERT. Witnesses:

LESLIE W. FRIOKE, ERNEST W. RAPALEE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,230,493, granted June 19, 1917,

upon the application of Frank B. Lambert, of Chicago, Illinois, for an improvement in Means for Carrying Out a Process for Burning Bricks, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 4, line 79, claim 9,

commencing with the Word and strike out to and through the Word arches,

line 81; same page and claim, line 82 as now numbered, after the Word pipes insert the words and adapted to bring said nozzle in Zine with one of said arches,; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

Signed and sealed this 17th day of July, A. D., 1917.

[SEAL] F. W. H. CLAY,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 01. 2515. 

